After Don & Kay got married in 1953, they soon found themselves in Baltimore, Maryland for Don's first residency.
Kay and Don Merrill; Baltimore, Maryland; December, 1953.
Kay and Don Merrill. New shoes and socks! (Baltimore, Maryland, December 1953)
By the next Christmas, Don had taken another residency or internship in New Jersey.
Don & Kay Merrill; New Jersey; December 1954.
In New Jersey, Don spent 1-2 months delivering babies. One time he delivered a baby, and when he turned to take care of it, its twin dropped in the bin. Oops! Well, no harm done...
Don had deferred service in the Navy until he finished his medical school, and then fulfilled it in the Coast Guard. He thus received orders to serve on an "ice breaker" in the arctic, where the government was building early warning systems to detect ICBMs (Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles). His orders would have him reporting to the ship just a few weeks before their first baby was born. Kay apparently wrote to the President of the United States (!) to ask that he not have to leave until after the baby was born.
Fortunately, another guy was willing to swap assignments with him, so Don could be there when David was born. Happy day!
Baby David Merrill, May 1955.
Seven days after David was born, the three of them drove across the country to Seattle. Don was supposed to depart almost immediately after they arrived, but the ice breaker ship, the "Storis", had problems, and so his departure was delayed for a few more weeks. Kay was so relieved, because it meant that Don could help them find a place and get all settled before he left.
Don, Kay and David Merrill, 1955.
Apparently they didn't start off with a lot of furniture.
The Storis was sometimes called "The Galloping Ghost of the Alaskan Coast". It was the first ship to cut through the ice of the Northwest Passage and thus circumnavigate North America, and was in service for 65 years. (You can see pictures and stories from the US Coast Guard history and a brief video trailer of an upcoming documentary).
US Coast Guard Storis (WMEC-38), 1955.
During Don's assignment on the Storis, he only had to help two people. One smashed his hand on-board. In another incident, a helicopter didn't land right, flipped over, and a guy ended up in the icy water for 5 minutes and had to be treated for hypothermia. He treated the guy by having him take a warm shower for 15 minutes. In contrast, the guy who had switched assignments with him had to perform several surgeries, including an appendectomy. So he felt like he lucked out a bit.
Don Merrill aboard the USCG Storis, 1955.
(It was so cold that even the film looks like it froze!)
David told about how Don met the Canadian "Mounties" and thought they were pretty spiffy in their uniforms.
Don Merrill and Canadian Mounties, aboard the Storis, 1955.
Don returned to Seattle after 3 months, got off the ship, and walked right past Kay, who had come to meet him. According to David, "He didn't recognize her holding a big, crying baby!"
Don, Kay, David, Jean, Thelma, Malcolm and Bruce Merrill, October 1955.
(Probably during a visit to California)
After that assignment they returned to the East Coast, apparently living for a time in Boston before moving to New York.
David, Don and Kay Merrill. Boston, Massachusetts. Christmas 1955.
Kay, Don and David Merrill. Boston, Massachusetts. Early 1956.
David, Kay and Don Merrill. January 1956.
Don, David and Kay Merrill. June, 1956.
Kay, Thelma and David Merrill. June, 1956.
Later that year they moved to New York.
New York, 1956.
And that is where Robin was born!
Robin Lynn Merrill, Staten Island, New York, 1956.
Believe it or not, Kay didn't have much in the way of pets growing up—just a parakeet, so I hear. But when they lived on the East Coast, they bought a dog in Flushing, New York, and thus named it "Latrine." (I don't know if this dog was it or not.)
David and Robin, about 1956.
David and Don. New York, 1956.
Robin and David Merrill, April 1957.
Robin Merrill, April 1957.
Kay, David, Robin and Don Merrill, July 1957.
Robin Merrill, 13 September 1957.
Kay, Don and Robin Merrill, 1957.
Robin and grandpa Malcolm Merrill, 1957.
At that point, Don had to choose a specialty, so he went to the University of California in San Francisco to finish a radiology degree. He would walk down the street to the bus and take a short ride to UCSF. They lived a few blocks from the "panhandle" of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. They didn't have a car at that time.
I'll bet is was fun for them to be near Grandma and Grandpa Merrill.
Malcolm Merrill with Robin, looking at the Cuckoo Clock (which I believe came from Switzerland?). June 1958.
Robin's 2nd birthday. September 13, 1958.
I used to love riding in this train at Tilden Park in Orinda, California.
Thelma Merrill, Gertrude and Frank Nelson (left);
Robin Merrill, Debbie and Cheryl Lynn Hickenlooper, David Merrill (right).
1/5-scale real steam engine train at Tilden Park, Orinda, California.
One day Thelma came to stay with the kids, and she told them, "You have a baby brother Mark!" David says one of his earliest memories of San Francisco is looking over the crib at Mark.
Mark, Don and Kay Merrill. April, 1960.
Don got a great job at the Oakland hospital, and they bought a house at 116 Ardeth Drive, Orinda, California. David said that the house cost $25,000, and that Malcolm and Thelma lent them the money for a downpayment. (Incidentally, zillow.com reports that this house sold in April 2015 for $1,475,000, so the price has gone up almost 60 times).
Frank & Gertrude Nelson, Malcolm Merrill;
Jean, Don, Kay and Thelma Merrill;
Robin and David Merrill.
116 Ardeth Drive, Ordina, California. December, 1960.
The house wasn't landscaped at the time. Kay ordered a big boulder for the front yard. But when it arrived, it was 10 times the price she expected, so she told the guy to take it away. He said he couldn't, so he just dropped it off and left. It was a 2-3 ton boulder, so when Kay tried to roll it, it wasn't going to happen. David was four at the time, and told Kay to "use the jacker-upper." Kay used the car's jack, and sure enough, she could jack it up, push it over, and it would roll. Eventually a guy driving by in a truck saw what she was doing and hooked a chain to it and pulled it where she wants. You can see the boulder by the curb in this Google street view.
At one point Don bought a brand new red Volkswagen from the showroom floor. As soon as he had paid and signed the papers, he turned the key and it smoked and the electronics all burst into flames. (I think the company probably took care of it.)
Kay and Don Merrill, December 1960.
In our next episode, Don & Kay move to Moraga. Then Danville. Then back to Moraga. And have a 25th and then a 50th anniversary!
In this episode, we focus in on Don and Kay and how they met. Many thanks to Mark, Robin, David and Jean (my mom) for their information on this episode and the next one.
Malcolm Donald (Don) Merrill was born 18 June 1927 in St. Louis, Missouri, while his father Malcolm was attending medical school there. As you will recall, Malcolm, Thelma, Don and Bruce later moved to Princeton, New Jersey, and then to San Francisco, California.
Around age 9, Don was struck with rheumatic fever, which caused him to miss six weeks of school. (It seems like someone mentioned that this illness may have had something to do with his interest in medicine).
Don Merrill with rheumatic fever.
Don later earned his Eagle Scout award. Way to go!
Don Merrill, Eagle Scout.
After finishing high school, Don was drafted into the Navy. Jean remembers seeing him off at the train station. Fortunately, the day he left for boot camp was the day Japan surrendered ("V-J Day", probably August 14, 1945). Don said, "It was the one-two punch that got Japan to surrender: First the bomb, and then they heard I got drafted." Even though Japan had surrendered, Don still went through boot camp and served in the Navy for 18 months. While there he went to radio school in Michigan and Mississippi, which is where he learned about electronics.
Don Merrill, Navy, about 1945-1946.
Don Merrill, Navy, about 1945-1946
This Navy service qualified him for the G.I. Bill, which helped pay his way through college at UC Berkeley.
Don Merrill, graduating from UC Berkeley
After graduating, he attended medical school at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Medical School.
Don in Medical School. San Francisco, California.
Meeting Kay
During the summer, Don worked for the Pfizer pharmaceutical company in California and traveled up the coast, meeting with doctors to sell them his drugs. So, as Mark said, "I suppose you could say he was a drug-pusher."
Don Merrill
On the weekends, Don would attend church and get a lot of good dates. The other Pfizer men he traveled with kept wondering, "How he is getting all these good dates?"
When he got to Seattle, he sat next to Kay (Karen Pierce Nelson) at church and started talking with her. She mentioned the floating bridge near by, and Don said that he had always wanted to see it. So they went to see it, and then they saw each other every day until he left.
Lake Washington Floating Bridge, near Seattle, 1954.
He got to know her parents, Commander Frank & Gertrude Nelson. They must have been impressed with him, because they invited him back as a house guest over Christmas. (Frank had been a commander in the Coast Guard, but after having children, decided he wanted to be home more, so he started working closer to home, investigating ship wrecks and such).
Kay went to BYU, and Don visited her there. She was feeling a bit inadequate, though, she being a freshman and Don being a medical student and a few years older than her, so they had a bit of a falling out. [When I heard that, I was having a hard time putting "Kay" and "inadequate" in the same sentence.]
But as Don talked to his father and hers, he was told, "Faint heart ne'er won fair lady." So, he decided he would write to her anyway.
Kay was planning to go back to BYU, but visited him first in Berkeley to see how things would go. While she was there, they got engaged! Thelma apparently woke up to Don slapping her cheeks and exclaiming, "We're engaged!" (Kay later said she didn't really have any intention of going back to BYU anyway, but perhaps she had to at least sound like she had a plan!)
Don & Kay, engaged, 1952.
In Mark's recording of "Pearls from the Past, 69 Questions", one of the questions was regarding chocolate, and here is what Thelma said about Kay. (You can click below to listen to Thelma tell it as you read along).
When we bought See’s Candy, there was always a chocolate marshmallow with a green top and nobody would take that. That was the last piece of chocolate that got eaten. So Don and Kay get engaged, and we’re going to have an open house. So we went to See’s so I could buy some candy. I said – Kay, I’ve got one quarter left here. What piece would you like? She said – I’ll take that with the green on it. Ah, I said -- for heaven’s sake, I thought you were perfect, but how can we have one so perfect that she will take the green one?
Karen Pierce Nelson (Kay), 1953.
Don and Kay were married April 27, 1953 in the Salt Lake Temple.
Don and Kay Merrill, Salt Lake Temple, April 27, 1953.
Wedding party, April 1953.
Don & Kay Merrill, Frank & Gertrude Nelson, Sue, Jean Merrill, Thelma & Malcolm Merrill.
Continuing on with the story about chocolates, Thelma said,
Well, so, Kay and Don got married. They got married in the Salt Lake temple and we were going from there on up to Seattle to have the wedding reception. So Don and Kay rode with Frank and Gertrude in their car and Malcolm and I and I guess Jean was with us. And we said, "Now don’t lets get lost from each other. If you can’t see us in the rear mirror, then stop in the next town you come to and wait on the outskirts. Then we’ll get together and see each other more." So when we got up to Logan, I said to Malcolm ,"Oh, let’s buy them some Bluebird chocolates." So we go in and buy some Bluebird chocolates and then we come out and drive to the edge of Logan and there Frank and Gertrude were. And so they came forward to us bringing us a box of Bluebird chocolates! I thought that was so fun.
Don & Kay Merrill, Gertrude & Frank Nelson, Thelma Merrill, Jean Merrill.
I love this picture of Don and Kay, both standing the same way. I've found that there are a lot of pictures of them looking at each other. So cute!
Wedding reception (probably in Seattle, Washington).
Kay Merrill, Jean Merrill, (anyone know who the other two brides maids were?)
Frank & Gertrude Nelson, Kay & Don Merrill, Thelma & Malcolm Merrill
Don & Kay Merrill
Don & Kay Merrill, Kay wearing her Indian Sari.
What a wonderful couple! Don was one of the sweetest men I've ever met, and Kay was always so great to everyone and seemed to have unbounded capacity to serve.
In our next episode, we follow the newlyweds to the east coast and welcome David, Robin and Mark to the scene!
